Street Racers' Terminology
by DistressedMoonchild
Summary: [Initial D, Takahashi Keisuke x Fujiwara Takumi] Takumi wants answers and receives some unexpected ones. Set somewhere around the end of the Fourth Stage, I guess.


TITLE: Street Racers' Terminology

AUTHOR: Moonchild in Distress

FANDOM: Initial D

RATING: R

PAIRING: Takahashi Keisuke/Fujiwara Takumi, implied Sudou Kyouichi/Takahashi Ryousuke

GENRE: Romance

SUMMARY: Takumi wants answers and receives some unexpected ones. Set somewhere around the end of the Fourth Stage, I guess.

DISCLAIMER: I'm just borrowing them. Will return mostly undamaged, honest.

A/N: My gratitude goes to my best friend Sherry who definitely deserves a better Keisuke/Takumi fic than this one, for her extremely helpful commentary, and to my Anonymous Super Beta who patiently edited the story, despite thinking that it sucks.

All feedback will be very much appreciated.

**STREET RACERS' TERMINOLOGY**

"Don't think! Stick to activities you are more familiar with," Takahashi Keisuke had once exclaimed, after Takumi had taken it upon himself to make some adjustments in 86's engine and kept their team's mechanics occupied for several hours with correcting the inflicted damage. Now Takumi saw the wisdom of this advice, though back then he'd thought of it as an insult. Thinking led to asking questions, which led to receiving answers which he didn't expect, and attention which he expected even less.

* * *

The familiar ominous-looking Evo III slid into the garage. Sudou stayed inside, greeting them with an abrupt nod. Takahashi Ryousuke was the first to approach the visitor. Before anybody else reacted, he opened the Evo's front door, tossing a "We'll continue tomorrow" and his car keys over his shoulder to the stunned audience, and jumped into the passenger seat. The car left immediately.

Puzzled looks and murmurs were exchanged. Takumi stayed quiet. Past experience showed that his questions usually sounded so ridiculous that they were laughed at rather than answered. Things had been this way before and haven't changed even after the racing bug got under his skin and he allowed himself to be sucked into the world of fantastic cars and people with infuriating attitude.

Takumi assumed that there would be another challenge. Did Kyouichi want a rematch with him? The formidable driver took his rare losses as offences and was always determined to get revenge. Would Ryousuke accept the challenge on Takumi's behalf, if that was what Kyouichi was after this time? Or... was this meeting about the Emperor leader joining Project D? No. Proud and somber Sudou Kyouichi taking orders from Ryousuke – Takumi's imagination refused to stretch this far.

The only other person not participating in the discussion of the mysterious visit was Keisuke, which made sense. Most likely, he had an explanation to the mystery but wouldn't disclose it without his elder brother's approval.

* * *

The opportunity to get an answer arrived during their next practice. As usual, Keisuke chose to stay behind "to make a couple of extra runs" when everybody else was about to quit. Whether he was really that much determined to improve his driving, or just wanted to demonstrate that he treated racing far more seriously than anyone else, Takumi in particular, remained unclear.

This time around Takumi declared his intention to do the same, purposefully ignoring Keisuke's indignant glare.

In the middle of their second run, Takumi halted the car at the sight of the immobile FR and its driver sitting on the grass near it. At Keisuke's inviting hand wave, Takumi walked out and joined him.

"We should find another course for training. I don't know about you, but I feel I could go through this one with my eyes closed." Apparently noticing surprise in Takumi's eyes, Keisuke stopped. "What?"

"I thought you were going to invite me to race with you," Takumi admitted.

"No can do, sorry." There was sincere regret in the racer's voice. "Bro says competitions between us would disrupt the harmony of the well balanced team." The phrase sounded like something Keisuke had been forced to learn by heart. Ryousuke must have been very determined about inculcating the restriction into Keisuke's mind.

"But if you really want a race...," Keisuke started hopefully.

"It's not a good idea. If Ryousuke-san's disapproves, we shouldn't."

"Ah... you always do as Ryousuke says."

"I think we have to trust him in these questions. He never makes mistakes."

"He does too!"

Takumi's eyes widened in disbelief. "Name one."

A long pause. "Well, once he brought me kiwi ice-cream instead of pistachio."

"And when was that?"

"Um... about fifteen years ago?"

"Right."

"Oh, whatever," Keisuke said huffily and turned away.

The next few minutes passed in silence. With Keisuke one could never be sure whether he was seriously offended or just pretended to be. Finally Takumi concluded that there wouldn't be any terrible repercussions if he gave it a go.

"Ah, Keisuke-san?"

"What?"

"Will there be a race against Kyouichi-san?"

Keisuke's eyebrows crawled upwards. "Where did you get that from?"

"Wasn't that why he met with Ryousuke-san two days ago?"

"Nah, that meeting had nothing to do with racing. Guess Sudou was just feeling lonely." Keisuke grinned. "Bro and Sudou are veeeery close, after all. You get what I mean?"

"Not really," Takumi admitted.

"Been at it for years," Keisuke went on blithely. "Except for the times when Sudou gets obsessed with proving to Ryousuke his superiority as a driver, and rushes off to practice and sulk."

"So... they are friends?"

"Well, 'friends with benefits' is the term, I believe."

"Oh," Takumi nodded in understanding. "They compete but still remain friends. It's great."

Keisuke stared at him impatiently. "_This_ kind of friends, okay?" He leaned in, grabbing Takumi by the chin and planted a brief but firm kiss on his mouth.

Takumi froze. In his mind, the idea of Ryousuke being gay was warring for priority with the fact that he'd just been kissed by _Takahashi Keisuke_. The latter won. "Y-you... you j-just... ki-ki..."

"You got a problem with that?" The ever-present challenging note in Keisuke's voice rose up a notch or two.

"N-no." It occurred to Takumi a little too late that the question might have been referring not to his attitude towards homosexuality in general, but to the kiss itself.

"Good." Keisuke patted him on the shoulder encouragingly and moved closer. So it was about the kiss, after all.

Takumi inwardly sighed. Now his only options were either to recall some urgent business he needed to attend to, or to go with the flow. Damn it, why did he have to start asking Keisuke about Sudou Kyouichi? He should apologize now and...

"Ryousuke didn't forbid you to have sex or something?" Keisuke was looking at him with false consideration.

Takumi shook his head and immediately gasped, as Keisuke's hand slid down from his shoulder and landed on his crotch. Takumi decided that a retreat could wait. If it went too far, he would just punch Keisuke and get away.

The second kiss lasted longer and involved a lot of touching. Until this moment Takumi hadn't been aware that hands and legs played such an important role in kissing. It felt as if Keisuke was all over him – oh hell, he really was!

Keisuke's vigor and confidence never failed in forcing a response out of Takumi. That was how they raced, and how they operated within the team. Keisuke pushed, and Takumi pushed right back. He wasn't even very much surprised when he found himself straddling Keisuke's hips, ripping off Keisuke's clothes faster than Keisuke was undoing his.

* * *

Sneaking into the shower that evening and praying his father was asleep, Takumi began processing the day's revelations.

It made sense, in a way. Both brothers appeared quite indifferent when it came to girls. Their team members had speculated that the lack of reaction to the female gender was a natural defense against hordes of love-struck girls, but perhaps Ryousuke had other reasons to ignore his fans, while Keisuke was merely copying his elder brother's behavior.

Girls could be difficult. They wanted their boyfriends to be successful, and admired their driving skills, but in the long run they didn't understand why their boyfriends couldn't choose a different, less expensive and risky hobby. Takumi learned all this from other racers' conversations, not personal experience, but he believed it nevertheless.

Imagining Ryousuke engaged in anything but studying or working out new driving strategies felt odd. Imagining Ryousuke involved in romantic or sexual activities felt just plain _wrong_. When on earth did Ryousuke find time to date? And with this guy? Ryousuke and Kyouichi. Takumi had been so sure they couldn't stand each other! Then again, judging by the way most street racers talked about their rivals, it was a miracle they all managed to survive that long. Roads should've been covered with the corpses of run down enemies.

More importantly, why would Keisuke be interested in a dork like Takumi? There was a stray thought that this would be used against him, maybe to mock him in front of the team, but he disregarded the possibility at once. Keisuke never operated so underhandedly, and Takumi wouldn't feel much ashamed anyway. It felt good and it wasn't illegal. His father wouldn't care either, as long as Takumi left enough time for tofu deliveries.

Did Keisuke find him attractive? Takumi stared in the mirror. Not likely. Perhaps he was simply convenient? This theory seemed closer to the truth, if one ignored the fact that Takumi's very existence annoyed the hell out of the Project D Driver No.1, as Keisuke liked to refer to himself.

At dawn, Takumi was still awake and in search of a convincing interpretation of Keisuke's actions.

* * *

"That's not a relationship. It's relaxation," Keisuke scoffed some three months later at Takumi's attempt to define the form their interaction had taken.

Takumi blinked. Their amazingly regular and frequent romps drew more energy out of him than most battles he'd participated in so far. Trust Keisuke to consider these exercises relaxing.

He wasn't really offended by Keisuke's refusal to use the term itself. He wasn't some insecure, needy girl, and besides, Keisuke rejected far more attractive offers on the pretext of needing to completely concentrate on his driving. While Takumi didn't know what qualities were normally anticipated in a lover, he was confident that driving skills weren't supposed to be on the list, and this was probably his only quality no girl could compete with. Although this was Takahashi Keisuke, who made friends and enemies on the basis of what cars these people owned and how fast they could drive them, so maybe Takumi did have a serious advantage...

Also, the "not a relationship" remained monogamous all this time – Takumi already knew Keisuke's schedule down to a minute and had no doubt of that – and continued far longer than Takumi would've thought possible, given Keisuke's claim of independence.

It continued long enough to go past blind fumbling and grabbing, which was all about making themselves feel good, right here and right now, and reach the stage where they agreed on where and when to proceed, so that they'd have an hour or two to laze around afterwards without disturbance.

Long enough for their teammates to start smirking meaningfully every time one of them announced that they would practice a bit more, just the two of them.

Long enough for Takumi to stop wincing while taking the car seat after their one on one practices, and develop a habit of keeping extra clothes in the car, usually something high-collared.

If that wasn't a relationship, it must be something very much like it.

* * *

With a deep contented sigh Keisuke slid off him and flopped on the bed, stomach down. "Move!" he commanded and shoved Takumi lightly. For one dreadfully unpleasant moment Takumi thought that he was being kicked out of the bed, before realizing that it was simply an order to free up some space. He hastily scooted away.

"It's too hot to cling like that," Keisuke complained in belated clarification.

"When is Ryousuke-san coming home?" More often than not, Keisuke dragged Takumi to his house, usually empty till late evening when Takahashi family members would begin to gather, and today was no exception. Takumi preferred to avoid unnecessary public exposure, though he didn't delude himself into thinking that Ryousuke was unaware of what was going on between his brother and Takumi.

"Not for another two hours. And please, would you quit calling him that? I understand that bro's driving you into respectful stupor but that's making me feel like I'm corrupting a minor.

"By the way, if you ever call me 'Keisuke-san' again, I will repaint your car. _Pink_," he added as an afterthought.

Takumi shivered, both from the mental picture and from the knowledge that yes, Keisuke was fully capable of that.

He frowned. Curses, promises to "leave him behind in the dust" and mockery of 86 were acceptable before and after the battles, when everybody was too hyped up to think straight. Takumi was sure he didn't want to know what profanities were sent to his and 86's address from his rivals' cars _during_ the battle.

But they weren't in the race now. Whether it was a relationship or not, and Takumi was inclined to say that it looked a lot like one, regardless of how Keisuke preferred to categorize it, they were supposed to be nicer to each other, at least after sex. Not threaten each other's cars.

He turned on his side, facing the young man stretched next to him, and looked up and down the limp body. His eyes lingered on Keisuke's back, bright red from falling asleep on the roof under the summer sun. Desperate times required desperate measures, right? And he _needed_ to make his point. Cars were sacred.

With that, Takumi lowered his hand onto the relaxed back and ran it all the way down, from the shoulders to the buttocks. Driving his nails into the skin. _Hard_. The scream that action produced would've made any torture expert proud.

Not waiting for retaliation, Takumi flattened himself on top of the squirming victim. "Now listen. My 86 is off limits. Nobody's painting it pink, or any other color. Touch it, and you are dead, even though we've been _dating_ for several months already." He paused. "Is that clear, Keisuke-_san_?"

**The End**


End file.
